90 Day Fiance: Happily Ever After? star Paola Mayfield has gotten a lot of criticism this year.
From her bizarre fixation on having a home birth to her at times cruel treatment of her husband, Russ, fans were shocked … and a little worried.
Then, Paola’s demeanor at the Tell All special did nothing to address those concerns.
Now, Pao has taken to social media to address how fans have seen her all season long.
She’s claiming that she received a “bad edit” that makes her “look like s–t.”
And you’ll never guess which of her castmates is coming to her defense. Really.
She knows how she came across at the Tell All
But to hear her side of things, the cameras didn’t show the whole story. Hmmm …
Paola has something to say
“Just to move on from this mess, I want to clear something up,” Paola announced on her Instagram Stories. “And not for my haters, but for those [whom] I respect.”
She’s not a monster
“I wasn’t laughing at [Ashley’s] pain,” Pao insisted. “We were laughing at how confusing everything was in that moment because we know what happened on social media. And yes, we were laughing, not only me.”
They DO have an existing beef
“I was told by one of the producers that Ashley was talking bad about me, and I wonder why,” Paola continued. “Maybe because I called her out about all the lies on social media and the [GoFundMe] money which I promoted on my account.”
She’s sick of the “bad edit”
“I don’t owe anybody an explanation,” Paola reminded her followers. “But I’m tired of seeing how editing always makes me look like s–t!”
Pao says that she’s self-aware
“I know I’m not an easy person,” Paola acknowledged. “And I know I’ve made mistakes in the past, but I owned those mistakes.”
Her marriage isn’t as bad off as you think
“And as for my husband and I,” Pao continued. “Believe: if I [were] all that he wouldn’t be with me.”
Even Ashley spoke up on her behalf
“I see my fans made it over to Paola’s page,” Ashley wrote in her Instagram Story. “Leave her alone; no need to bully people.”
She does want to ask a favor …
“Since she is yelling about editing and calling @TLC out,” Ashley suggested. “Can you let the world know why I jumped up and left the building, Pao?”
Why won’t she reveal the truth herself?
Ashley concluded: “Still waiting on that [money], so I’m gonna be quiet.”
These two used to get along
Early this year, around the time of Ashley and Jay’s fraud scandal — when Jay went live from an Instagram account that had been “leaking” their photos — Ashley and Pao had a falling out.
Paola soured on a lot of fans this season
Fans were so excited to see her give birth to baby Axel. Unfortunately, bringing her rainbow baby into the world seemed to come at the cost of her mental stability.
She became obsessed
A devoted parent is a good parent, but Pao was refusing to let immediate family members hold Axel and tried to discourage them from spending time with him
With every move, she pushed Russ further away
Paola was constantly critical of everything that Russ did. At the same time, she laid into him for leaving the house for work. He was in a no-win situation.
She even refused to go to couples counseling
At the Tell All, she adamantly refused, which sounded an awful lot like she just didn’t care enough about her marriage to save it.
That wasn’t good for Russ, either
Russ admitted during the Tell All that there were times when he felt that he was only returning home for Axel and not for Paola.
Hopefully, things are better now
The Tell All was filmed a couple of months ago. A lot can change between spring and summer.
Did Paola really get a “bad edit” like she claims?
Maybe. Reality shows are notorious for editing scenes and entire seasons to create a storyline, sometimes giving viewers a very skewed look at someone’s life.
But …
90 Day Fiance can’t edit unkind words into the show. If you don’t give them material of being unreasonable or toxic, they can’t conjure it out of thin air. We think that it’s safe to say that Paola gave them a lot to work with this year.